Familiar Faces
by The Evil Author
Summary: A series of Firefly crossover shorts wherein Mal and his crew run into some familiar faces.
1. Trading Places

Title: Familiar Faces

by Nopporn Wongrassamee

Summary: A series of Firefly crossover shorts wherein Mal and his crew run into some familiar faces.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their owners who I'm too lazy to look up and list.

**Part 1. Trading Places**

"Watch out for the lightning," River was saying. "It comes when you least expect it, and it'll spirit one of us away."

"Aw, no," Jayne moaned. He eyed the perfectly clear sky. There was no hint of cloud never mind lightning. The only notable feature aside from the sun was the arc of the gas giant dominating the horizon. "Doc, you're sis has gone all crazy again. Better get 'er back in the ship before she humps the deal. Right, Mal?"

"Our contacts did want to meet the crew," Mal said thoughtfully. "But if our lil albatross is becoming a might less lucid…" He sighed. "Doc, better take her back in."

"Of course, Captain." Simon said apologetically. "I…" His voice trailed off and his eyes widened.

"Simon?" Kaylee asked. "You okay?"

But Simon was not paying attention. His eyes had locked onto the gas giant in what looked to be surprise. Two words emerged from his lips, almost too faint to be heard.

"Oh boy."


	2. Hazzardous Encounter

Title: Familiar Faces

by Nopporn Wongrassamee

Summary: A series of Firefly crossover shorts wherein Mal and his crew run into some familiar faces.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their owners who I'm too lazy to look up and list.

**Part 2. Hazzardous Encounter**

Much to Mal's chagrin, none of them spotted the contacts until they were on top of them. Or rather, until the contacts were _over_ them.

An orange ground car – with wheels and everything, no jets or grav systems in evidence – came sailing through the air over _Serenity_, honking an abbreviated version of the Independents Anthem. It landed on a conveniently shaped slope without being smashed to pieces and whipped around in a spray of dirt to come towards them. As it pulled up, Mal took notice of the Indepent flag painted on the roof.

Oh yeah, Mal thought sourly, that was really low profile. No chance of attracting Fed attention here. Nope. Not at all.

Two young men, one with blonde hair and the other with black, climbed out of the car through the windows. It seemed the doors didn't work. The passenger was armed with what appeared to be… a bow and arrow?

"You Malcolm Reynolds?" the blond driver asked.

"Depends," Mal replied. "You got cargo?"

"You got cash?" Mr. Bow and Arrow asked back.

"I got cash," Mal replied. He brushed his coat with one hand, showing the bag of coin hanging from his belt.

The driver grinned. "Then we got cargo," he whooped. He strolled round to the back of his vehicle and popped open the cargo hatch. "Five crates of our Uncle Jesse's best moonshine." He hauled one such crate out to show them. Unfortunately, the bottom fell out, sending jars crashing to the ground. "Er, make that four crates."

"Aw, Bo, not again," the other man groaned. He turned back to Mal. "Sorry 'bout that. The idjit there is Bo. I'm Luke." His eyes drifted over to the girls. "And we are very happen to make your acquaintance."

"Be that as it may," Mal said irritably, "There ain't no five crates no more. Looks like we may have to renegotiate the price."

"Oh don't you worry 'bout that none," Luke replied affably. "We'll just run back to the farm and get another crate."

"I dunno," Mal said dubiously. "The longer we sit here, the more likely the law's gonna swoop down on us."

At that notion, the two locals burst into howling laughter.

"Not much chance of that," Bo said.

"Yeah, we left the sheriff in a creek mile or two back," Luke added. "Again."

"Well, that's good to know." Mal hesitated. "But… bow and arrow?"

With a grin, Luke turned to the side and shot a stubby little tree. Seconds later, they were all showered with kindling. The arrows were packed with explosives.

"Huh," Jayne finally said, speaking up for the first time since the locals' arrival. "Where can I get me one of those?"


	3. Gatekeeper

Title: Familiar Faces

by Nopporn Wongrassamee

Summary: A series of Firefly crossover shorts wherein Mal and his crew run into some familiar faces.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their owners who I'm too lazy to look up and list.

**Part 3. Gatekeeper**

"What were you gorram thinking, boy?" Mal demanded as soon as he could get Simon alone. Given the nature of their "guests", that turned out to be the two of them on the bridge as _Serenity_ was taking off.

It had started off as such a nice day. Their local contacts, the Dukes, were friendly and affable once business was out of the way. Despite the initial mishap, they had managed to get their whole cargo. Unfortunately, Simon had volunteered to go along with them. He then brought back… additional passengers.

"I don't know, Captain," Simon began.

"Don't know!" Mal exploded, but quietly so as not to be overheard outside the bridge. "You invited Feds on my boat! And not just any Feds, if those ain't a team of SpecOps soldiers, I'll eat my gun! I know you and your sis ain't fugitives no more, but that's no reason to go borrowing more trouble! Especially since our cargo ain't strictly legal to begin with."

"Honestly, Captain," Simon said earnestly. "I can't remember inviting them at all. My memory of recent events is somewhat fuzzy. I think I may be coming down with something."

"That's because you weren't Simon then," River said as she piloted _Serenity_ out of the world. "But now you are Simon and what went wrong is now right."

"Right?" Mal said incredulously. "How is having Feds on my boat right?"

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," River replied cryptically.

"REYNOLDS!" bellowed a voice not belonging to any crewmember before Mal could ask River what she meant. Mal turned to see the leader of the Alliance soldiers storming up into the bridge.

"Colonel O'Neill," Mal greeted with a smile that fooled no one. "What can I do for you?


	4. Bellerophon Hills

Title: Familiar Faces

by Nopporn Wongrassamee

Summary: A series of Firefly crossover shorts wherein Mal and his crew run into some familiar faces.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their owners who I'm too lazy to look up and list.

**Part 4. Bellerophon Hills**

The buyer wasn't exactly what Mal expected. Then again, what other Bellerophon aristocrat would pay to have _moonshine_ of all things shipped across the System? Although technically speaking, the buyer wasn't really an aristocrat, or even a Bellerophon native for that matter.

But what really mattered was that he was friendly… and loaded.

"Lemme get this straight, Mr. Clampett," Mal said to the other man over a glass of shared moonshine. "You was out hunting some game on your land and stumbled across the biggest platinum deposit this side of Earth-That-Was."

"Ayup," the buyer replied. "And please, you can just call me Jed."

* * *

"_Ai ya_!" Granny screamed. "You're a witch! Begone foul creature. We is good folk here. You'll not be corrupting any of my family!"

"You're a witch," River pointed out quietly, nudging the old woman's bubbling cauldron for emphasis.

"Don't be contradictin' your elders with facts, girl!"

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

"…so Blue Sun gave me something they called," Jed's face screwed up in concentration, "Row Yell Trees or somethin' like that for the mining rights to my land. Now I'm a rich man. How about that?"

"_Lao tian_, Jed," Mal said, impressed. "You must be the luckiest _hwoon dahn_ in the gorram System. What have you been doing with all your riches?"

"Bought me this here fancy floatin' island," Jed said with a negligent wave of his hand. "Aside from this, don't really need much. Bought the kids a few things though."

"Like what?"

* * *

"Aw, look at that, Simon," Kaylee cooed. "She likes you."

"She's certainly got a strong grip," Simon grunted while being hugged near to death, He turned his head to avoid a sloppy kiss. "And she's very friendly."

Kaylee beamed at him then turned to Ellie May. "Don't they look cute together?"

"Oh yeah," Ellie May agreed. "I count my lucky stars that one of the ships from Earth-That-Was brought orangutans with 'em."

* * *

"So how's your crew, Mal?" Jed asked. "They getting' on all right?"

"Absolutely," Mal replied with a grin. "Your family's much more welcoming than your run of the mill rich folk. You all are a downright friendly bunch."

* * *

SMACK!

Zoë's punch knocked out the man-boy with the wandering hands. When Jethro came to, he had only one thing to say.

"I think I'm in love."

* * *

"So why this, Jed?" Mal asked. "Why come all the way to Bellerophon to buy yourself a flying island? It's pretty obvious you woulda been more comfortable back on the old homestead."

Jed frowned as he considered the question. Then he shrugged.

"This is the place folks said we oughta be."

**Author's Note:** I was going to limit this part to just the Mal and Jed parts, but then gave into temptation.


End file.
